<-- back to characters page

Patricia Dashwood- Scattergood student
Scattergood MOO [connect]

Description:

Patricia is a tall, bony girl with a face that can only be described as ‘straight’. Her eyes, nose and mouth are usually set firmly as lines. Her jaw is square; her chin pointy. Eyebrows are kept--trimmed?--as two obtuse angles above normally narrowed, light-blue eyes. With her complexion and light eyes, one might expect her hair to match, but it is a dark brown, nearly black color, straight as if ironed, but cropped short in a boy cut. She wears a pair of silver-framed glasses, normally slid down on her nose, causing the effect that she always looks as if she is looking down her nose. Though lean, under the robes, Pat is also on the muscled side, but not exceptionally well-developed for her age.

Patricia wears under her Scattergood robe a necklace with a protective rune on it, a gift from her childhood tutor and friend. The symbol looks like this:

History:

Patricia Dashwood---known to most as Pat, by her own desires--was born to pureblooded parents in a magical community just outside of Denver. Her father, Peter Dashwood, was a banker, and her mother, Philomena Teluces, worked at a hospital. Though they tried their hardest to raise their daughter in a manner that would allow her to grow up and be exceptionally attractive to a pureblooded potential husband, this somehow backfired. The girl was so proud of her heritage that she appointed herself the family heir. There would be no forgetting the Dashwood name, after her father’s cousin Osbert died childless (as is likely to happen) she would be the last left. 

So it is that Pat has fashioned herself as a rather prim tomboy during childhood. Most of her friends have been boys--what friends she has had. Almost every acquaintance has stayed just that, for there isn’t much getting close with Patricia. Before she started school, she was tutored on and off by a student from Schiller Academy , Michael Arnarson (who only *hinted* at spells), he who later became one of her few close friends. To this day she writes to him often from school, though he has taken a job for the Ministry in Utah. And for proper socialization, she had a play group. Unfortunately, in these play groups, the other children showed little interest in playing elaborate logic games and preferred throwing mudballs. So much for childhood. 

When the time came for Patricia to go to school, her parents preferred to send her to Schiller. Unfortunately, their principal had never particularly gotten along with Mr. Dashwood. (He believed that Peter lost him a large sum of money. Peter claimed it was the fluctuating economy.) Mysteriously the girl’s application was rejected, though she seemed the ideal candidate--bright, eager, reserved, and without any obvious Muggle blood. Unwilling to send their daughter too far from home for her education, they accepted her letter from Scattergood, and off she went. It was thought that perhaps she could transfer to Schiller after eighth grade, a desire that increased after Peter’s “madman of a cousin” Osbert Blacker-Dashwood returned to Colorado and started teaching at Scattergood. 

Yet Patricia, at this point, was too involved in her studies at the school to want to interrupt them. She excelled in Potions, History, and even Gobbledegook, a class which she chose to take because she wanted to “broaden her understanding of languages.” (Her father, having daily dealings with goblins, agreed grudgingly.) She plays in the school band. She is, in most ways, content. For the time being.

Persona:

There are two sides to Pat. One is the side that she imagines--a cool and collected, masculine image, that deals with anger well and speaks in double-tongued phrases and cutting sarcasm. And then there’s the side that most people see, which begins coolly and then turns into an odd-tempered girl who grumbles about people, threatens to ‘deal with them later’, or seeks revenge at the smallest personal slights. Although she tries to stay calm in the face of insult, more likely she will grit her teeth and show visible annoyance. 

Whether or not she consciously *tries*, she often ends up in situations that will piss others off. She will sit down for lunch with someone she dislikes simply to slip in a good insult. And how does she treat her friends? Well, she does feel mildly guilty about having once blamed her best friend for breaking something that she broke, but this sin says a lot about her. In most cases, you can count on her to be disloyal. 

She has a list of pet peeves, which include the following: Being called “Young lady”, “Miss Dashwood”, “Patricia” or--god forbid--“Patty”. (Her great-aunt Lavinia Dashwood does that constantly, much to her dismay.) Another is cats. She can’t stand them. (Rabbits, evidently, are much more to her liking.) And don’t get her started on the use of pencil over pen, anything flavored like spearmint, neon colors, or skirts. 

If Pat were one of the seven deadly sins, she would be Pride or Wrath. 

It is actually possible for her to become more agreeable. It just takes a long, long time and a little luck to break through her shell. (A little luck==an icepick.) The following things have succeeded: A grim sense of humor, a boy who looks quiet but interesting, and ‘good taste’ in music. 

Despite all her unpredictable behavior, Pat does have a rational side. It feeds on her love of logic games. She enjoys chess and has been playing since a very young age. She also is quite musical, and plays five instruments: piano, drums, bass, violin and xylophone, Bulgarian-style. And, interestingly enough, she sings. She won’t often admit to this, but she is quite the soprano. Just don’t ask her to demonstrate, because she’d rather claim she can’t sing than use her real singing voice. 

There’s also this fixation--not a crush, she claims--on the lead singer of the wizard band the Unforgiveable Curses. The guy’s name is Maury Clandestino, and all sorts of nasty rumors are always circulating about him in the entertainment tabloids. He fights with one of the other band members constantly. He’s spit on fans. He’s written songs using his own blood. But she claims he’s a genius, and will go out of her way to make comparisons to him. If you find yourself on the receiving end of one of these comparisons, take it as a compliment. And you’ve successfully gotten on her good side. 

Currently she prefers to operate as an individual, thinking that others will set her plans back by far. Her best friend is an adult now, her former tutor who this coming year will work at Schiller teaching Curses and Counters. She writes to him often, but is a little wary of him occasionally; he’s arm-in-arm with her father, someone who she doesn’t want finding out about her lifestyle. 

Just what is this lifestyle? Well, she fancies herself adventurous, a bit of a rebel. Let’s leave it at this: she met a well-known criminal and his dog living in the woods while sneaking off to visit Schiller, and instead of notifying anyone about it, was quite disappointed that they would have to flee.

This speaks volumes:

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished Patricia to the Fifth Level of Hell!
Here is how Pat matched up against all the levels:

Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test

Logs:

Divination Class
Hide and Seek
Pat sneaks into a club (second time)
YELP 1
A duelling practice and failure

Letters to and from Michael Arnarson